---

Benefit Fraud Inspectorate (Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council)

On behalf of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate (BFI) inspection report on Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council was published today and copies have been placed in the Library. In 2004–05, Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council administered some £25.1 million housing benefits, about 37 per cent. of its gross revenue expenditure. The council was selected for inspection because it was taking 46 days on average to process new claims for housing benefit in the quarter ended 31 December 2004 and it had operated with a backlog of claims for several years. The inability to clear the backlog was mainly due to a high turnover of Benefits service staff and managers and time lost to the introduction of new technology. Several initiatives to reduce the backlog were tried, including the introduction of a twilight shift, overtime working and the use of a dedicated backlog team. The backlog was eventually cleared in September 2004. The overall performance of the Benefits service has improved considerably over the past 12 months. A variety of initiatives and changes to procedures have been introduced, including the fast tracking of claims and the prioritisation of changes of circumstances. BFI's sampling confirmed that processing times for new claims had improved considerably with the time taken to process new claims for the quarter ended 31 March 2005 now at the Department's standard of 36 days. The sampling also confirmed that performance in respect of changes of circumstances had followed a similar pattern of steady improvement. In 2003–04, the average time taken to process changes of circumstances was 43 days but this had reduced to an average of 17 days in 2004–05. The overall standard of verification was good with only one area of weakness. The claim form currently used by the council does not meet the design and content principles of the Department's model claim form but the council is in the process of revising the form and will ensure that best practice is taken into account in the new version. The council has good working relationships with many stakeholders, including landlords, housing associations, The Pensions Service and Jobcentre Plus. The council has an effective performance management framework in place to report the benefits service statistics to members but current performance targets are not challenging enough. Targets need to be reviewed to ensure that they remain up to date and challenging. This will help the council drive forward further improvements to performance and help it achieve its aim of top quartile performance by 2006. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is considering the report and may ask the council for proposals in response to BFI's findings.